1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying spout-equipped bags, which supplies spout-equipped bags to a packing machine.
2. Prior Art
Spout-equipped bags are delivered from a bag manufacture to a factory in a state where spout portions are aligned in a line on a plastic holding rail (or rail-formed magazine). To adjust a mismatch between a speed for treating the spout-equipped bags on the packing machine and a speed that an operator loads the spout-equipped bags delivered from the bag manufacture, a supply apparatus that supplies the spout-equipped bags to the packing machine by once storing them is used in the factory. Apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2500557 and Japanese Patent No. 4584440 are known as the above-mentioned supply apparatus.
The supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2500557 is so constructed that a holding rail for holding nozzle-equipped pouches is pushed and moved by a chain conveyer in a state of being loaded on a guide, the holding rail is moved to a pouch pushing-out position by attachments of a relay conveyor and positioned by a positioning stopper, and thereafter, a plurality of nozzle-equipped punches held on the holding rail are pushed out. Then, the positioning stopper is released, and the holding rail that has been emptied is exhausted in a conveying direction by operating the relay conveyor. In the supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2500557, the operator does not need to transfer the spout-equipped bags housed on the holding rail and should only mount the holding rail on the guide in a state of being delivered from the bag manufacture.
Japanese Patent No. 4584440 discloses a supply apparatus for a multi-processing machine that processes the spout-equipped bags in parallel. In the multi-processing machine, a plurality of spout-equipped bags must be supplied in parallel. Therefore, in the supply apparatus in Japanese Patent No. 4584440, the plurality of spout-equipped bags are stored on a plurality of conveyor rails on an endless chain which is circulated and moved on an endless track, and when the spout-equipped bags are conveyed to a taking-out or removal position, they are simultaneously pushed and moved from two conveying rails to two transfer rails by pushing members on the position.
In storing a large quantity of spout-equipped bags on the supply apparatus, the operator can transfer the spout-equipped bags housed on the plastic holding rails to the conveying rails in an asynchronous manner to filling process of the packing machine.
The supply apparatus in Japanese Patent No. 2500557 exhausts the holding rail that has been emptied at the pouch pushing-out position in the conveying direction, and therefore, a large interval between the packing machine and a place where the exhausted empty holding rail is retained. Since the plurality of conveying rails are circulated and moved on the endless track in the supply apparatus in Japanese Patent No. 4584440, it is necessary to transfer the spout-equipped bags housed on the plastic holding rail to the conveying rails them from the bag manufacture to the factory.
The contents of Japanese Patent No. 2500557 and Japanese Patent No. 4584440 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirely.